Really? He's serious! Josh McNeil, the senior who's started 35 games since he was a freshman, is having to compete with former walk-on Cody Sullins for the starting center position. Such a move almost makes you want to believe that the whole "every position but Eric Bery's is open" is complete nonsense uttered only to motivate guys, but Kiffin's sure making it sound like it's real. Credit McNeil for playing the game with a positive attitude:
Everybody is rotating in with the first unit so I just have to do what I've been doing since I've been here and everything will work itself out. You've got to come out here and you've got to perform everyday to make sure that you lock down that starting job.
Creer's career over at Tennessee. He was AWOL for Tuesday's practice, and it was announced as official yesterday that he had quit the team. Nobody knows the details yet, but we do know that Creer had been stripped of his single-digit number a bit earlier as some sort of disciplinary measure. He apparently didn't respond too well to the news that he'd be battling mid-term freshman Toney Williams for the third-team position behind senior Montario Hardesty and sophomore Tauren Poole. Tennessee will grant him a release with the restriction that he won't be able to transfer to another SEC school or any other future opponent of the Vols. He'll need to finish out this semester academically.
Still in the doghouse but trying to get out rather than quit is Brandon Warren, who made a couple of good plays on Tuesday. For one, he hauled in a pass near the goal line and barely got one foot in bounds for the completion.
Rend the garments! Crompton's thrown an interception! It's inevitable, you know, but in practice on Tuesday, Crompton and Austin Rogers appeared to miscommunicate on a pass play, with Rogers never looking for the ball, and DB Art Evans intercepted the ball and returned it for a touchdown.
Hmm. Tauren Poole, after being beaten by Rico McCoy on a blitz pickup drill, "roar[ed] like a lion." ($) Interpretation, anyone?
Too tall. Gerald Williams batted a ball -- with his elbow ($).
This is why you the lawyers tell you not to talk to the media or the cops. Donte' Stallworth says that the pedestrian he struck while driving drunk was not in the crosswalk and that Stallworth flashed his lights and honked his horn in an attempt to warn the guy . Somewhere, a prosecutor is wondering why he had time to do all that and no time to hit the brakes.
It's important to note that the current roster of players has been on their best off-the-field behavior all offseason. Woo for no Fulmer Cup points.
